TOO HIGH TO GET IT RIGHT @ CANADIAN MUSIC WEEK
This was a good year to have a pass for CMW, because there wasn't one solid nite of music at any particular venue, unlike last year, when the Metal Bar had a three-day showcase and there were some cool shows at places like the Hard Rock Cafe. I definitely got the most outta my Executive Pass though, and while CMW didn't have a stoner rock contingent, there were some great bands playing earlier in the week, before things officially got under way. What follows is a summary of the week that was:
TUESDAY, MARCH 4TH - KINGDOM OF SORROW WITH ELECTRIC MAGMA @ EL MOCAMBO
Electric Magma opened the show at 8 pm by playing five songs with an extended jam sandwiched in between. While they forgot to bring their Magma Girl amp covers, they didn't forget the fuzz, ending things on a high note with a song from their upcoming album, tentative titled Teriyaki Bitch Sauce. However, the two bands following them were forgettably generic metalcore acts, so I'll just skip to the headliners.
Kingdom of Sorrow is a band with only 38 minutes of recorded material, and I'd say that they played about half of it this evening. They also played a couple songs for the Crowbar fans in attendance (all 8 of us), with their renditions of Self-Inflicted and All I Had I Gave, which featured Jasta, and not Windstein, on lead vocals. It was the first time I've seen people karate chopping to anything resembling sludge metal, with the encouragement of Jamey Jasta at one point. Most of the crowd was there to see him, and when the band ended with what I'm assuming was a Hatebreed song, they got the biggest reaction of the nite. The kids probably wanted to hear more Hatebreed, but alas, there was no encore, making the set seem short, and understandably so. Sadly, Jamey Jasta singing Self-Inflicted is probably the closest Toronto will come to seeing Crowbar live anytime soon.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5TH - ON THE VERGE @ THE KATHEDRAL
I shoulda learned from past experience that it takes me more than half an hour to get to The Big Bop, but here I was leaving at 7 when On the Verge was playing a 7:30 set. Fortunately, they were pushed back to 7:45, so I got there just in time--or so I thought. This was the first time I'd walked past the aftermath of the Queen St. fire, and I didn't know that the sidewalk was closed until I ran into the fence, which has since been taken down. And when I got to the venue, I found out that I couldn't use my pass to get in, since it was a kick-off show, and not an official CMW event. Things weren't going very well for me, but on the plus side, the sound system was playing Ozzy's No More Tears album as the band was setting up--an underrated but great record in my books. On the Verge seemed to be taking a while to set up the drums because, as I later found out, their drummer was sick and their replacement drummer blew his transmission on the way to the show. This meant that when the first band finally took the stage at 8:30, it wasn't them. In the end, they were able to find another drummer on short notice, and went on last, but I was long gone at that point. With the overpriced Big Bop beer, it was the worst sixteen bucks I've spent since I got suckered into buying that "Online TV Viewer," and wouldn't you know it, the band's next show is at the same hall, albeit in a different room. At this point, I'm still debating whether to go see em at Holy Joe's on the 29th.
THURSDAY, MARCH 6TH - SIN DEALER @ ROK BOUTIQUE
While there are many live concert venues at Queen and Bathurst, the Rok Boutique isn't one of them. Or at least it wasn't, until Thursday nite, when Sin Dealer became the first band to perform there. The L-shaped stage at the back of the bar was barely big enough for the band, but the sound was fantastic as they ripped through a solid 10-song set which included their better-than-the-original version of AC/DC's Walk All Over You and ended with a cover of Pantera's A New Level. (Eric told me that they learned it for the Dimebag tribute show they played in December.) And of course, they bought shots of Jack Daniels for the crowd, as is their custom. I think I had three. Overall, the evening was reminiscent of one of the better nites at the Bovine, minus the trendy fashionista poseurs. I'd certainly like to see more bands at the Boutique in the future--as long as someone tells the DJ that he shouldn't be playing Green Day and Marilyn Manson at a heavy rock show!
FRIDAY, MARCH 7TH - GLOBAL MUSIC FORUM @ ROYAL YORK HOTEL
Sin Dealer was the only band I saw on Thursday, and that's because I had to get up early the next morning to attend several conferences at the Royal York hotel, beginning with the Global Music Forum at 8 am. For three hours, I was seated next to the RIAA's head of technology at a couple of group discussions about piracy and the future of the music industry. For the first one, the table was full of label people who agreed with him, but the second session brought some dissenting opinions, which made things more interesting. Immediately following the forum, I headed down the hall to watch an interview with Seymour Stein and Tommy Ramone, in which the early days and the impact of The Ramones were discussed. Then I headed to the Overdraught pub for lunch. It was reasonably priced--especially for Front Street--and I would definitely go back there.
This was a good year to have a pass for CMW, because there wasn't one solid nite of music at any particular venue, unlike last year, when the Metal Bar had a three-day showcase and there were some cool shows at places like the Hard Rock Cafe. I definitely got the most outta my Executive Pass though, and while CMW didn't have a stoner rock contingent, there were some great bands playing earlier in the week, before things officially got under way. What follows is a summary of the week that was:
TUESDAY, MARCH 4TH - KINGDOM OF SORROW WITH ELECTRIC MAGMA @ EL MOCAMBO
Electric Magma opened the show at 8 pm by playing five songs with an extended jam sandwiched in between. While they forgot to bring their Magma Girl amp covers, they didn't forget the fuzz, ending things on a high note with a song from their upcoming album, tentative titled Teriyaki Bitch Sauce. However, the two bands following them were forgettably generic metalcore acts, so I'll just skip to the headliners.
Kingdom of Sorrow is a band with only 38 minutes of recorded material, and I'd say that they played about half of it this evening. They also played a couple songs for the Crowbar fans in attendance (all 8 of us), with their renditions of Self-Inflicted and All I Had I Gave, which featured Jasta, and not Windstein, on lead vocals. It was the first time I've seen people karate chopping to anything resembling sludge metal, with the encouragement of Jamey Jasta at one point. Most of the crowd was there to see him, and when the band ended with what I'm assuming was a Hatebreed song, they got the biggest reaction of the nite. The kids probably wanted to hear more Hatebreed, but alas, there was no encore, making the set seem short, and understandably so. Sadly, Jamey Jasta singing Self-Inflicted is probably the closest Toronto will come to seeing Crowbar live anytime soon.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5TH - ON THE VERGE @ THE KATHEDRAL
I shoulda learned from past experience that it takes me more than half an hour to get to The Big Bop, but here I was leaving at 7 when On the Verge was playing a 7:30 set. Fortunately, they were pushed back to 7:45, so I got there just in time--or so I thought. This was the first time I'd walked past the aftermath of the Queen St. fire, and I didn't know that the sidewalk was closed until I ran into the fence, which has since been taken down. And when I got to the venue, I found out that I couldn't use my pass to get in, since it was a kick-off show, and not an official CMW event. Things weren't going very well for me, but on the plus side, the sound system was playing Ozzy's No More Tears album as the band was setting up--an underrated but great record in my books. On the Verge seemed to be taking a while to set up the drums because, as I later found out, their drummer was sick and their replacement drummer blew his transmission on the way to the show. This meant that when the first band finally took the stage at 8:30, it wasn't them. In the end, they were able to find another drummer on short notice, and went on last, but I was long gone at that point. With the overpriced Big Bop beer, it was the worst sixteen bucks I've spent since I got suckered into buying that "Online TV Viewer," and wouldn't you know it, the band's next show is at the same hall, albeit in a different room. At this point, I'm still debating whether to go see em at Holy Joe's on the 29th.
THURSDAY, MARCH 6TH - SIN DEALER @ ROK BOUTIQUE
While there are many live concert venues at Queen and Bathurst, the Rok Boutique isn't one of them. Or at least it wasn't, until Thursday nite, when Sin Dealer became the first band to perform there. The L-shaped stage at the back of the bar was barely big enough for the band, but the sound was fantastic as they ripped through a solid 10-song set which included their better-than-the-original version of AC/DC's Walk All Over You and ended with a cover of Pantera's A New Level. (Eric told me that they learned it for the Dimebag tribute show they played in December.) And of course, they bought shots of Jack Daniels for the crowd, as is their custom. I think I had three. Overall, the evening was reminiscent of one of the better nites at the Bovine, minus the trendy fashionista poseurs. I'd certainly like to see more bands at the Boutique in the future--as long as someone tells the DJ that he shouldn't be playing Green Day and Marilyn Manson at a heavy rock show!
FRIDAY, MARCH 7TH - GLOBAL MUSIC FORUM @ ROYAL YORK HOTEL
Sin Dealer was the only band I saw on Thursday, and that's because I had to get up early the next morning to attend several conferences at the Royal York hotel, beginning with the Global Music Forum at 8 am. For three hours, I was seated next to the RIAA's head of technology at a couple of group discussions about piracy and the future of the music industry. For the first one, the table was full of label people who agreed with him, but the second session brought some dissenting opinions, which made things more interesting. Immediately following the forum, I headed down the hall to watch an interview with Seymour Stein and Tommy Ramone, in which the early days and the impact of The Ramones were discussed. Then I headed to the Overdraught pub for lunch. It was reasonably priced--especially for Front Street--and I would definitely go back there.
In
the afternoon, I attended panel discussions on breaking into Latin
America and independent music promotors. The former was like an
episode of Accent on Accent, as only two of the six speakers spoke
English fluently. But I found the latter to be quite interesting,
although I was one of only two people who raised their hands when the
moderator asked if there were any promoters in the audience. I
assumed that the room was full of musicians looking for gigs, so I left
before anybody could approach me. And when I saw the long lineup
for the Alanis Morissette interview, I decided to head home. Has
it really been ten years since she was famous?
While I did see a few bands on Friday, nobody really blew me away. I do hafta give credit to Grimskunk, though, as they made it through a 30-minute set without their lead singer and keyboard player, who was stuck in Montreal due to the snowstorm. They played a lotta punk songs from their early days, and I enjoyed their set more than the time I saw them at the Comfort Zone during NXNE. For what it's worth, I think they're better off sans claviers.
SATURDAY, MARCH 8TH - WHITE COWBELL OKLAHOMA AND MORE
On Saturday, the highlite of the nite was definitely seeing White Cowbell Oklahoma at The Horseshoe Tavern. Although they pretend to come from the deep south, these guys are one of, if not the best live band in Toronto. This eight-piece outfit combines the classic rock sound of KISS and Lynyrd Skynyrd with cowboy costumes and a performance that includes strippers and chainsaws and cowbells--oh my! They're currently working on a third album, and I only have their first one, so I didn't recognize most of the songs they played, but even without knowing the lyrics, they've still got killer riffs. And of course, they ended with Put the South in Your Mouth, although the platnium blonde that was dancing on stage kept her shirt on throughout. I definitely remember seeing some titties at their last performance, when they had a different stripper with them. But that's just a minor complaint.
The Creepshow had the tough task of following the Cowbell, and there were less people packed in front of the stage for their performance. White Cowbell Oklahoma left an aftermath of toilet paper and stuffed animal entrails in their wake, but that didn't stop people from dancing and moshing to covers of the Misfits and The Ramones. I had actually never seen The Creepshow live before, but I was impressed by the band, and not just their cute lead singer/guitar player. The four-piece formation, which includes stand-up bass and keyboards, are a tight unit, with everybody but the drummer contributing backing vocals. I can easily see why they're one of the most popular punk bands in town.
My nite began by watching the Canadian premiere of a Tenacious D documentary, where Kyle Gass took questions from the audience after the screening. He also performed at The Reverb with his other band, Trainwreck, a clever parody of bands like, well, White Cowbell Oklahoma. They played a few southern-style originals, and tossed in covers of Whole Lotta Rosie, Takin' Care of Business, and, get ready for it ... What a Feeling from the Flashdance soundtrack! With them on at 11 and Cowbell at midnite, they weren't a bad warmup act for the real thing.
Also worth mentioning was Tokyo Sex Destruction, a punk rock band from Madrid, Spain. Their singer was channelling Iggy Pop all evening, dancing across the stage, the floor, and even the stairwell of the Rancho Relaxo while the band played on. And the rest of em weren't bad, either. All in all, Saturday nite was alright for music, and I really have no regrets about braving the blizzard to see the bands. Now, as for the lack of stoner rock ... well, I'm not gonna promise anything, so I'll just say wait 'till next year. And if you wanna see a stoner showcase, then come out to the El Mocambo on April 20th!
What did you think of Canadian Music Week? Discuss it on the THTGIR forum
While I did see a few bands on Friday, nobody really blew me away. I do hafta give credit to Grimskunk, though, as they made it through a 30-minute set without their lead singer and keyboard player, who was stuck in Montreal due to the snowstorm. They played a lotta punk songs from their early days, and I enjoyed their set more than the time I saw them at the Comfort Zone during NXNE. For what it's worth, I think they're better off sans claviers.
SATURDAY, MARCH 8TH - WHITE COWBELL OKLAHOMA AND MORE
On Saturday, the highlite of the nite was definitely seeing White Cowbell Oklahoma at The Horseshoe Tavern. Although they pretend to come from the deep south, these guys are one of, if not the best live band in Toronto. This eight-piece outfit combines the classic rock sound of KISS and Lynyrd Skynyrd with cowboy costumes and a performance that includes strippers and chainsaws and cowbells--oh my! They're currently working on a third album, and I only have their first one, so I didn't recognize most of the songs they played, but even without knowing the lyrics, they've still got killer riffs. And of course, they ended with Put the South in Your Mouth, although the platnium blonde that was dancing on stage kept her shirt on throughout. I definitely remember seeing some titties at their last performance, when they had a different stripper with them. But that's just a minor complaint.
The Creepshow had the tough task of following the Cowbell, and there were less people packed in front of the stage for their performance. White Cowbell Oklahoma left an aftermath of toilet paper and stuffed animal entrails in their wake, but that didn't stop people from dancing and moshing to covers of the Misfits and The Ramones. I had actually never seen The Creepshow live before, but I was impressed by the band, and not just their cute lead singer/guitar player. The four-piece formation, which includes stand-up bass and keyboards, are a tight unit, with everybody but the drummer contributing backing vocals. I can easily see why they're one of the most popular punk bands in town.
My nite began by watching the Canadian premiere of a Tenacious D documentary, where Kyle Gass took questions from the audience after the screening. He also performed at The Reverb with his other band, Trainwreck, a clever parody of bands like, well, White Cowbell Oklahoma. They played a few southern-style originals, and tossed in covers of Whole Lotta Rosie, Takin' Care of Business, and, get ready for it ... What a Feeling from the Flashdance soundtrack! With them on at 11 and Cowbell at midnite, they weren't a bad warmup act for the real thing.
Also worth mentioning was Tokyo Sex Destruction, a punk rock band from Madrid, Spain. Their singer was channelling Iggy Pop all evening, dancing across the stage, the floor, and even the stairwell of the Rancho Relaxo while the band played on. And the rest of em weren't bad, either. All in all, Saturday nite was alright for music, and I really have no regrets about braving the blizzard to see the bands. Now, as for the lack of stoner rock ... well, I'm not gonna promise anything, so I'll just say wait 'till next year. And if you wanna see a stoner showcase, then come out to the El Mocambo on April 20th!
What did you think of Canadian Music Week? Discuss it on the THTGIR forum
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